Emmie Gilbert
by FanfictionWriter1009
Summary: Emmie Gilbert lost her parents just three months ago and now, being the middle child between a younger brother and an older twin sister, she's trying to grieve but be strong for them as well... Then arrives the Salvatores to Mystic Falls and her simple world falls completely apart.
1. Chapter 1- Pilot

Pilot.

'Dear Diary...

Today is going to be a good day, I can tell. I feel happier and Elena looks happy too. I have spent the whole of last night inwardly perfecting my smile and statement of "I'm fine,

thanks," to battle the constant question of "How are you?" or "Are you okay?". I am determined not to be the girl who just lost her parents and is all sad and depressing. I will

be strong and there for my sister and brother. I will be okay.'

"You know, that's pretty dressy for first day back," Elena's voice came floating over to me from my bathroom doorway which connected to my twin sister's bedroom also. I

smiled.

"And your outfit is pretty comfortable and plain...yet you pull it off and you look good," I replied. Elena smiled as I got up from my window seat and put my diary in the drawer of

my bedside table.

"Thanks...I feel good too," Elena said as I grabbed my bag and jacket. "You look good as well," She added.

"So do I. Today looks good," I agreed as we left my room and made our way downstairs.

"Toast, I can make toast," Aunt Jenna said hurriedly to us as she made her way around the kitchen. Elena headed straight to the coffee pot.

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," She said as she reached it and poured me and herself a cup.

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy, our younger brother, appeared from the hallway. He snatched my cup of coffee as I put down and I frowned and pouted at him.

"And good morning to you too, Jer," I remarked. He held up my cup in a salute.

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared," Jenna moaned. "Lunch money?" She then suggested, holding up notes of cash.

"We're good," Elena answered whilst I nodded my agreement. Jeremy however took it off her without so much as a thank you. I frowned once more at him, this time totally

serious.

"Anything I'm missing? A number two pencil?" Jenna asked again. Elena and Jeremy shook their head whilst a thought came to me.

"Jenna...don't you have a big presentation today?" I asked after a few moments. Jenna's face lit up in realisation and she looked at her wristwatch.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at...now. Crap!" She answered with a panicked tone. I grabbed her bag and jacket and handed them to her.

"Go then. We'll be fine," I told her. She looked unsure but as I was ushering her to the front door anyway, she didn't have much of a choice. I closed the door after

her and turned to go back into the kitchen to see Jeremy stalking upstairs and Elena stood in the doorway of the kitchen, looking concerned.

"What happened?" I asked, with a sigh as I walked back into the kitchen and started to look through my bag to make sure I had everything.

"I asked him if he was okay and he said "Don't start," and walked away," Elena explained. I looked up at my sister and smiled softly.

"Lena...all he's heard for three months is "Are you okay?". We complain about it too. Let's just keep an eye on him today, alright?" I replied. Elena nodded and leant her head on

my shoulder. A car horn made us both jump slightly and Elena moved to see who it was.

"It's Bonnie," She said. I nodded and grabbed my bag handles and my leather jacket and as Elena went through the front door, I paused and saw Jeremy coming down. "We're

heading out Jer, make sure you get there on time," I told him. He gave me a faint smile and nodded. "Oh and stop giving Elena off- hand answers. She worries about you, we all

do," I continued. Jeremy nodded once more and then walked past me. I made my way out and got into the backseat passenger of the car. Bonnie turned and smiled at me.

"Morning," She said. I smiled immediately.

"Morning, Bon," I replied. Bonnie drove away from the curb and we fell into conversation easily.

"So. Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on and I'm like, put this woman in a home

already! But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger and... I still think Florida will break off and turn into resort islands..." Bonnie was

saying but I only partly heard her because I'd gone off into a mini- daydream. It was habit of Elena and I's that had started since the crash. "Guy! Back in the car!" Bonnie

suddenly exclaimed, making me jump slightly and become more focused. Then I realised that Bonnie had been talking and I felt guilty, as did Elena, by her facial expression.

"Sorry, we were doing it again, weren't we?" Elena said. Bonnie nodded.

"Sorry, Bon. You were saying?" I asked.

"That I'm psychic now," Bonnie summarised. Me and Elena half- glanced at each other.

"Okay, predict something. About me and Emmie," Elena answered after a few seconds. Bonnie smiled and concentrated for a moment.

"I see..." She began to say but at that moment something hit the windscreen and made Bonnie hit on the brakes hard. My breath went out of me and my heart started beating

hard. It went silent in the car for a moment before Bonnie dispelled the silence. "What was that? Oh my god- Elena, Emmie are you okay?" She said frantically, looking between

us.

"It's okay. I'm fine," Elena replied, then turned to me with concern. "You okay, Ems?" She asked. I nodded, not trusting my voice for a moment, then breathed deeply and

nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

"It was like a bird or something and it came out of nowhere," Bonnie said, still sounding a bit frightened.

"It's fine, really, Bonnie. We can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of our lives, can we Elena?" I said, sitting upright a bit more. Elena nodded in agreement. Bonnie looked

between us then grinned.

"I predict that this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy," She said with determination. I looked

at Elena and then grinned.

"Sounds good to me," I said. Elena and Bonnie laughed as she began to drive once more.

Around half an hour later we were walking down the main hallway of the the high school, observing the people around us.

"Major lack of male real estate. Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Beech. She looks like a hot- can I still say 'tranny mess'?" Bonnie said as we all looked over at the said

blonde haired girl. I laughed and shook my head as I pulled out textbooks from my locker and transferred stuff in as well.

"No, that's over," Elena said. Bonnie sighed.

"Ahh, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year," Bonnie replied, making us giggle. I waved at a girl in my algebra class with a smile. I turned to see Elena looking sadly

at someone and looked at her direction of gaze. Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood. Our ex- boyfriends.

"He hates me," Elena said, referring to Matt.

"That's not hate, Elena. That's "you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits,"...Trust me I'm going through the same with

Tyler," I told her. She gave me a small smile in response.

"Oh my god! Emmie! Elena!" A voice exclaimed from behind us. I turned to see our other best friend, Caroline Forbes, rushing towards us and hugging me tightly. Then she

released me and hugged Elena. "How are you both? It's good to see you. How are they? Are they okay?" She rambled the last part to Bonnie. I shared an amused glance

with Elena.

"Caroline, we're right here and we're fine," Elena said.

"Thanks," I added with a polite smile. Caroline looked unconvinced. She focused her attention on me.

"Really?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yes. Much better," I told her.

"Oh you poor thing," She said, hugging me again. "You know I'm here you need me at all," She added. I pulled away and nodded.

"I know, thanks, Care," I said honestly. Caroline smiled.

"Okay, I'll see you guys later," She said before walking off. I turned to my sister and best friend with a small grin.

"No comment," Elena said as we began walking once more.

"I wasn't going to say a thing," Bonnie said with a wink to me. I giggled as followed them along the hallway.

As we began to pass the School Office, Bonnie held up her hand to stop us.

"Hold up- who is this?" She asked, nodding to inside the School Office. A leather jacket-ed back was facing us but it was clearly male and in good condition too.

"All I'm seeing is back," Elena stated.

"It's a hot back," Bonnie replied. I lowered my eyes and smirked.

"Cute butt too," I commented. I caught my sister's eye and smiled. "What?" I asked her. She just shook her head and smiled.

"I'm sensing Seattle and that he plays the guitar," I moved my eye from the back of the new guy to Bonnie.

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing to the ground, aren't you?" Elena said. Bonnie just grinned at her.

"Pretty much, yeah," She said in reply. At that moment, a familar voice caught my attention and I looked around to see Jeremy looking worse for wear. A sigh from my sister told

me she'd also saw and then she marched off. I followed her but not before I heard Bonnie say quietly "Please, please be hot," I sent her a smirk over my shoulder, then

pushed open the men's bathroom door.

"- Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool," I heard Elena say, sounding pissed. I walked around the corner to see Elena searching Jeremy for drugs and

I leaned up against the wall.

"Look, stop! I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?" Jeremy said, moving away from her.

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy!" Elena exclaimed. "We gave you a summer pass but we are done watching you destroy yourself. No, no,no-" She said as he tried to get around

her. "You know what? Go ahead. Keep it up. But just know that we are going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, you got it?" She finished before leaving the bathroom.

I watched her, then turned back to Jeremy.

"I know you who are, Jer. And it's not this person. So don't be this person because it's hurting us watching you be like this all the time," I told him softly. For a moment, I thought

he was going to break, until he became stony faced once more.

"I don't need this," He muttered and brushed past someone as they came in and he went out. I turned and saw the guy from the office stood there. I blushed slightly, realising

where I was exactly.

"This is the men's isn't it?" The guy asked.

"Er...yeah, sorry. Just had to sort out my younger brother," I replied. The guy's face changed to understanding and he nodded. "Well I'll be on my way," I added and left the

bathroom with his eyes on my back. I saw Bonnie and Elena on the other side of the hallway and made my way over to them.

"Seattle guy saw you then?" Bonnie asked with a giggle. I rolled my eyes.

"So awkward," I muttered as I made my way to first class which was Algebra with Bonnie and Elena behind me.

Two hours later and I was in my favourite class, just not with my favourite teacher. Mr Tanner was a bit of a dick to everyone. He loved to criticise.

"...Once our home state of Virginia joined confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virgina's northwest region had different

ideals than those from the traditional deep south. Then Virginia divided in 1863 with the northwest region joining the union..." I looked around the room and realised most

people were zoning out. I smiled at Matt, who smiled back then made awkward eye contact with Tyler who looked at me with a tiny bit of sadness and...jealousy? I frowned

to myself, then felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and caught in my perphieral vision Elena doing the exact same thing. I checked Tanner's eye direction then pulled

up the new message I'd recieved. Bonnie.

- HAWT-E STARING AT YOU AND ELENA...

I looked up and then at the new guy. His gaze was on Elena, then he turned to look at me. Our gazes held each other's for a second before I looked down, blushing slightly. I

looked back up and caught Elena's smile, then we both turned back to the front, smiles on our faces.

"So today wasn't a total drag. I mean...you two had attention from the mysterious new guy who is stunning," Bonnie said with a smile. I caught Elena's eye and smiled. She

smiled back.

"Well, it can't be because we look the same, can it?" I replied, grinning. Me and Elena may be twins, but we weren't identical twins. I had brunette hair, same as Elena but as hers

was straight, mine was curly and wavy. Her eyes were brown whilst mine were more hazel as I had flecks of green and blue blending in with the brown. However we were

both the same size and height and had the same personalities, except I was a bit more outgoing and had a bit of a quick temper at times.

"So, are you two coming to mine for a bit before we go to the Grill tonight?" Bonnie asked as we reached her car. I looked at Elena.

"Actually we're going to head towards the cemetery for a while," I replied for us both. Bonnie nodded and then smiled gently.

"I'll drive you there, come on," She said. We got into the car, this time me in the front passenger seat whilst Elena went to the back passenger seat.

"Thanks, Bonnie," I said as she drove out of the parking lot of the school. She just looked over to me and smiled.

"It's okay, Ems. I know you both and Jeremy are still grieving and going to see them is good for that," She replied. I caught Elena's eye and smiled at her comfortingly. Even

though I was the younger sister, I sometimes behaved the oldest and there were times Elena hated me for it.

'Dear Diary...

Today wasn't so bad. We were asked a lot of times if we were okay and everything we replied with yes, but it didn't matter anyway. It seems people don't really want an answer

when they ask anyway...'

"Shoo!" Elena said from opposite me and I looked up above me to see a huge black crow. I moved away and turned towards it to see it's black eyes trained on my movements.

"Okay, that's creepy," I commented. The bird suddenly flew off and Elena looked at me amused.

"That's what I thought," She said. I turned back to get my bag and backed up quickly as I saw the crow there once more. Elena looked startled too and then I noticed the fog

building up around us. I started to feel a bit tense and nervous and unconciously gripped Elena's wrist. We both looked forward and saw a shadow of a figure not far off. I

grabbed my bag as did Elena and ran off, her in front. Then she fell suddenly and I stopped to help her up. As I did so, I saw another figure looming and turned quickly to see it

was the new guy.

"You okay?" He asked us, but more to Elena.

"Were you following us?" I asked out right. Elena shot me a frown but the guy just smiled lightly.

"No, I- uh- I saw you running, then her fall," He replied. I breathed deeply.

"And you just so happened to be hanging out in a cemetery," Elena said sharply. This time, it as my turn to frown at her.

"I'm visiting. I have family here," The guy answered. Elena's face fell and she breathed deeply, then sighed.

"Sorry, tactless. It's the fog. It's making me foggy. And then back there was this- bird and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right? Hitchcock...

I'm Elena," Elena rambled. I stared at her in amusement.

"I'm Stefan," The guy answered. Both stared at me and I pulled myself out of my mini daze.

"Oh, I'm Emmie...Elena's twin as you can probably tell," I said. Stefan smiled. "We have a lot of classes together," I added. Stefan smiled again and then reached forward to

pull a leaf out of Elena's hair.

"Nice ring," She commented. I looked at Stefan's hand and saw what she meant. It was a nice ring.

"Oh,it's a um, family ring, yeah. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird huh?" He replied. I shook my head.

"No, it's cool. I mean there are rings and then there's that," I said. Stefan chuckled, then looked back to Elena.

"Are you hurt?" He asked her.

"Hmm?" Elena asked in reply, a dazed look in her eye. I smiled slightly.

"Did you hurt yourself, when you fell?" He asked again. She looked down at her knee and shrugged.

"I don't know," She replied, reaching down and pulling up her pant leg. I winced at the sight of the blood and knelt to have a closer look at the damage.

"That is not pretty," I commented. I saw Stefan had turned around. "Are you okay?" I asked him.

"You should go and take care of that," He replied, sounding tense. I looked up for a moment and then back down as Elena winced.

"Really it's nothing," She said and as we both looked up from Elena's leg, Stefan had disappeared. I looked at Elena in confusion.

"I'm guessing someone really dosen't like blood?" I said in a questioning tone. Elena just shrugged and we both went towards the entrance to go home.

A couple of hours later and I had changed my outfit to another top and heels with my black shorts I already wore today. I walked down the stairs as Elena told Jenna where

we were going.

"Okay, have fun," She said then paused. "Wait, I got this. Don't stay out too late, it's a school night," She said, totally serious, then she smiled. I laughed as I pulled my jacket

on.

"Well done, Aunt Jenna," I said as she disappeared into the kitchen. Elena opened the door and stood there, about to ring the bell, was Stefan Salvatore.

"Oh," Elena said in surprise.

"Sorry, I was about to ring the bell. I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was...strange," Stefan said.

"No worries, blood makes you squeamish," Elena said in reply.

"Um, something like that, how's your leg?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, it's fine," She answered with a look down towards it. I moved off of my stance on the second step.

"So how did you know where we lived?" I asked, as I checked my appearance in the mirror by the doorway.

"It's a small town, I asked somebody. Er, I thought you might both want these back," He said, holding out our diaries. We both took our diaries each.

"We must have left them behind earlier, thank you," Elena said. I nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry I didn't...read them," He said.

"No? Most people would have." I said in surprise. Stefan's gaze caught my own.

"Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine so..." He said. I raised my eyebrow and smiled.

"You keep a journal?" Elena asked, sounding amazed. Stefan nodded.

"If I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important," He said. Elena nodded and I moved away to go and put my journal down in the living room. Elena must

have followed me but there was no sign of Stefan. I returned to the front door as soon as my journal was on the bookshelf, away from Jeremy's or Jenna's eyes and I picked

up my bag by the front door.

"Sorry, were you going somewhere?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, we're meeting some friends. Want to join us?" I asked in reply. Stefan agreed at Elena's nod of agreement. I grabbed mine and Elena's keys and got into the driver's

seat, with Elena letting Stefan get into the front passenger and herself in the back passenger.

We entered the Grill and immediately saw Caroline, Bonnie, Matt and Tyler's eyes on us. I inwardly groaned at Matt and Tyler's hurt faces, but then I remembered who Tyler

was hooking up with and frowned as Matt came over to introduce himself to Stefan.

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you," He said to Stefan.

"Hey, Stefan," Stefan replied. Matt came forward and hugged me tightly.

"Hey, Emms," He said.

"Hey, Mattie," I replied.

"Hey," Elena said. Matt looked at Elena and said

"Hey," then walked off. We walked over to where Bonnie and Caroline was sat at a table in the corner. I said hello to them and hugged them both then let them talk amongst

themselves. I saw that Vicki was on her shift so I walked over to the bar to say hello. She saw me and looked guiltily at Tyler who was with Matt by the pool table.

"Hey Vicks," I said as I sat on a bar stool.

"Hey Ems," She said. "I see you know about me and Tyler," She added, timidly. I smiled softly and shrugged.

"It dosen't matter Vicki. You've like him for a while and anyway, I was the one to let him go," I replied.

"He's not over you," She said. "He tries to appear he is, but he isn't." I nodded and bit my lip.

"Would you okay if I went and talked to him later?" I asked. Vicki nodded and I left her to it, returning to my group of friends.

"Are you coming to the Falls party?" Stefan asked me as I sat down next to Caroline. I smiled and nodded.

"I sort of have to if Caroline's going," I replied. Caroline swatted me and I laughed.

The next day we were in History with the joy of Tanner. I was sat in between Matt and Elena and was feeling tired since I'd had a nightmare about the crow in the graveyard

yesterday.

"Mr Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Tanner asked Matt, who was right next to me and pulled me out of my

daydream.

"I'm cool about it, Mr Tanner," Matt replied and I smiled.

"Elena? Emmie? Surely one of you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Tanner looked at us expectantly. I shrugged whilst

Elena said she didn't know. "I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reason, girls, But personal excuses ended with summer break," He said harshly. Elena blushed

slightly whilst I glared at him. From behind me I heard Tyler mutter "Dick," under his breath and then I heard Stefan's voice.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilans," I turned to look at him with a small smile.

"That's correct Mister...?" Tanner replied.

"Salvatore," Stefan answered. Tanner looked interested to hear this.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" He asked. Stefan shifted slightly.

"Distant," He said.

"Well, very good. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in the battle," Tanner replied.

"Actually, sir, there were 27," Stefan repsonded, making us all look at him again. Tanner looked surprised. "Confederate soliders, they fired on the church, believing it to be

housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts, Mr Tanner," Stefan

finished. I smirked at Tanner. It was obvious that Stefan had spoken out in defense of me or Elena. Tanner didn't look impressed and neither did Matt or Tyler either.

"Emmie!" I heard a familiar voice shout me as me, Caroline and Bonnie walked down the hallway to Gym class. I turned to see Tyler approaching. I shared a look with both

girls.

"Want us to stick around?" Caroline asked. I shook my head.

"I'll see you in minute," I told them and they began to walk away as Tyler came to a stop in front of me. "Hey," I said.

"Hey. I, uh, wanted to see how you are," He said softly. Tyler was known to have a temper but I'd been on the recieving end of it. Yeah, I'd saw it for guys that decided to chat me

up but never actually trained on me. I sighed.

"I'm okay, really I am, Tyler," I said. He nodded and then started walking us in the direction of the Gym hall.

"Good, I mean...What's up with that Salvatore guy? I mean, is he interested in you or Elena? Both of you?" He burst out suddenly, sounding vaguely protective. I raised my

eyebrows and gave Tyler a long look.

"I don't Tyler. But I'm not interested in him like that anyway. Elena lkes him, I think and it might do her some good." I replied. I saw Tyler about to speak and I knew immediately

what he was about to say. "Tyler...you know full well that Elena and Matt were running to the ground for a couple of months before our parents died, she was going to end it

anyway and I know it'll be hard on him, but you're there for him and so I am and so's Caroline and Bonnie too," I finished and saw we were outside Gym. Tyler nodded and then

smiled.

"Okay, I get it. So, friends?" He asked. I smiled back straight away and nodded, letting out a breath of relief. Tyler surprised me by hugging me and kissing my cheek then

heading in the other direction. I entered the female changing rooms feeling more happier than I have for a while. Bonnie caught my smile and smiled too.

"Everything okay between you and Tyler?" She asked, pulling her Gym top over her head.

"Yeah, everything's fine. We're friends," I replied as I pulled out my Gym top, shorts and pumps, before pulling my hair up into a loose top knot.

"Yeah, friends. We all know when he's over Vicki and you both get drunk, you'll end up in his bed," Caroline said from behind me. I shot her a 'behave' look and then saw

Bonnie giggling and laughed too.

Hours later and I was stood in the clearing of the woods with Bonnie and Elena.

"Admit it, Elena," Bonnie was saying.

"Okay, so he's a little pretty," Elena admitted.

"He does have that romance novel stare," I added as I sipped my bottle of beer.

"So where is he?" Bonnie asked as we looked around for him.

"Don't ask me, you're the psychic one," Elena replied, making me chuckle. Bonnie smiled too.

"Right, I forgot...Okay, so give me a sec. Grams says I have to concentrate," She then said. I looked at her in confusion, then realised she was actually gong to try this.

"Wait you need a crystal ball," Elena added, picking up an empty beer bottle from the ground and handing it to Bonnie. Bonnie took it and then held Elena's hand. I watched

as she seemed to zone out for a moment to two before suddenly focussing and grabbing her hand away from Elena, who looked startled.

"What?" I asked her.

"That was weird...When I touched you, I saw a crow," Bonnie answered, looking creeped out. I shared a look with Elena, my mind on the crow at the cemetry yesterday.

"What?" Elena asked, sounding confused.

"A crow," Bonnie repeated. "There was fog, a man...I'm drunk. It's the drinking. There's nothing psychic about it...Okay, I'm gonna go get a refill," She rambled then walked

away. I looked at Elena then saw Stefan apporaching us. I gave him a smile before saying to Elena.

"I'll go after, don't worry," With a nod to Stefan behind her and then followed Bonnie's route through the party goers.

I caught up with her a few minutes later and saw she still looked creeped out.

"Okay, so what happened back there?" I asked her. She shrugged, trying to seem casual. "Bonnie, don't give me that crap. I know you and you did see something so...what?"

"I just had a bad feeling, is all, Emms...Come on, let's go and find Caroline," She said with a smile. I nodded and agreed but my mind was on my dream that I had had last night.

I'd been left alone again and was standing watching Stefan try and get away from Caroline. He told her something and then saw me and came over.

"You know...Elena was wondering who abducted you but now I see," I teased. Stefan smiled.

"Is she like that with all the guys?" He asked, looking back to see Caroline flirting with someone else.

"Not usually but you're fresh meat. She'll back off eventally," I said, then saw Elena marching over to a very drunk Jeremy who seemed to be starting a fight. "Oh,you've

got to be kidding me?" I exclaimed. Stefan looked in my line of sight and then back to me.

"What is it?" He asked.

"My brother," I replied, my eyes narrowing. Stefan looked back to Jeremy.

"The drunk one?" He asked. I nodded.

"That would be the one...Excuse me whilst I go and help Elena with him," I answered.

"Need some extra help?" Stefan asked once more. I gave him a warm smile.

"Trust me...not going to be pretty. Me and Elena will catch up with you later," I told him, then went after my brother and sister who were going into the woods father.

"...I don't want to hear it!" I heard Jeremy yell as they came to a stop sudddenly.

"Yeah well too bad..." I trailed off as I saw what had stopped them. Vicki was lying, unconcious, blood covering her. "Oh my god.." I said, putting a hand to my mouth.

"Vicki!" Jeremy exclaimed, kneeling down by her.

"Jeremy, pick her up. We need to get her some help," I said, panic running through me. Elena helped us lift her up and we made our way back to the party.

"Someone help!" Elena screamed as we made our way back to the party.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell!" Matt exclaimed as he came over to us. Jeremy lay her on the ground, whilst me and Matt knelt down by her.

"What happened to her?" Tyler asked from by me.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" Matt yelled. I saw Tyler pulling out his phone.

"Everybody back up and give her some space!" He yelled as he put his phone to his ear. I took Vicki's hand and stroked her hair away from her and saw the bite wound.

"Something's bit her...It's her neck..." I said. Somebody held out an overshirt to me.

"Put this on her neck," He told me. I nodded and placed it there, holding it down firmly.

"Vicki...come on, open your eyes..." Matt was saying. I met Elena's eyes, worry on my face as she looked back at me, exactly the same expression on hers.

I gave Matt a hug and watched as he climbed into the ambulance. The doors closed and the ambulance drove away. The party had broken up mainly because of what had

happened. I turned to Bonnie and Caroline.

"We're gonna head to Mainline Coffee, wait for news," Bonnie told me as Elena came up with a subdued Jeremy behind her.

"I'm going to take Jeremy home but Ems..." Elena looked at me and I shook my head.

"I'll come with you guys, Elena. Call us if you hear anything," I told Bonnie who nodded. I walked away and up to Jeremy who was still drinking a bottle of beer. I took it off him

gently and he didn't protest unlike he would have done with Elena. Somehow, Jeremy had started to see me and Elena in different lights. I was good cop, she was bad cop.

"Last time I checked, Jer, those people over there in uniform were the police. And if they see you drinking, they will take you back to the station with them." I saw his face. "No,

I'm not about to read you the riot act, but Jer, these people aren't going to let you off anymore. They've forgotten that Mom and Dad are dead because they've got their own

lives to deal with. They've all moved on and we've got to try to move on too," I finished. He looked up a me.

"Yeah and you and Elena writing in your journals...is that you supposed to be moving on when you visit their graves nearly every day?" He asked. I sighed and leaned into him,

giving him a hug. He hugged me back tightly.

"I suppose it is. But it also isn't. Jeremy, we'll get through this. The dark times are over for us," I said into his shoulder.

I walked downstairs later that night to see Stefan and Elena on the couch, talking.

"Sorry, I'm interrupting aren't I?" I asked tiredly. Both of them shook their heads.

"Any word from Matt?" Elena asked. I nodded.

"Vicki woke up... she's asleep now. Weirdly enough though, Matt asked her what had bitten her..." I trailed off. Both looked at me expectantly. "She said vampire," I finished.

"She said it was vampire?" Stefan asked. I nodded as Elena looked confused. There was silence in the room...


	2. Chapter 2- The Night of the Comet

The Night of the Comet.

I felt refreshed that morning. Something seemed to have cleared and though in the back of my mind, I was worried for Vicki, I felt happy and light. I was wearing a blue skater dress with tan flats and a black jacket. My hair was in a messy updo that made me look casual yet nice. I had already wrote my morning journal entry and was just getting ready to go and fetch Elena from her room. I went into our shared bathroom then into her room. She was just putting her diary in it's hiding place on her bookcase.

"Ready?" I asked her. She nodded and smiled. We made our way out through her bedroom door to see Jenna looking in the mirror of the main bathroom.

"Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" She asked, making us pause and glance at each other confused.

"Depends on where you're going..." I replied. Jenna stopped looking in the mirror and focused on us.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference." She said, before adding "Hair up or down?" I bit my lip and shrugged. Jenna held her hair up.

"Sexy stewardess," Elena commented, making me laugh. Jenna put it down.

"Boozy housewife," I joined in. Jenna gave us a smile then ran her eyes over us.

"You two are sure fiesty today," She stated.

"I feel good, so I'm going with it," Elena answered. I nodded.

"Same here...I feel like something's lifted off of me." I looked into Jeremy's room, surprised he hadn't joined in on the conversation with an ironic or snide comment. "Where's Jeremy?" I asked as I saw the room was empty.

"Oh, he left early. Something about getting to wood shop to finish a birdhouse," Jenna replied as she applied lipstick. I raised my eyebrow and she stopped and looked at me and Elena with a slight blush. "There is no wood shop, is there?" She said finally.

"No," Elena sighed and moved away to go downstairs. Jenna looked in her reflection.

"Yeah," She sighed too. I felt sorry for her and patted her shoulder.

"It's fine, Jenna. I have a feeling I know where he is and if I'm right, he's okay and not in trouble. And hair up, you look good," I told her. She smiled at me warmly.

"Thanks Ems," She said as I made my way downstairs too.

Two hours later and I was walking at snail's pace down the school hallway with Caroline and Bonnie, watching Stefan and Elena talk in front of me.

"I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked Bonnie, causing me to re focus on the conversation.

"Technically, Grams says I'm a witch." Bonnie replied. She continued "My ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all but she was looped on the liquor so I kinda tuned out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so," I smiled as she shook her head.

"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night," Caroline said wistfully. I snapped my head to look at her.

"I didn't see him, you did. Why didn't you just go over and talk to him?" Bonnie asked in reply, sounding amused.

"I was drunk," Caroline defended herself.

"Wait. What guy?" I asked the both of them. Caroline smiled in excitement.

"He was gorgeous. Talk, dark, insanely handsome and had bright blue eyes," She gushed in reply. I smiled and shook my head.

"Oh, Caroline," I said as she continued talking about him as we walked out to the parking lot and benches outside of school.

I saw Jeremy stalking away from Tyler angrily and went to Tyler after letting Bonnie and Caroline know I'd meet them at the car like Elena would after she was done talking to Matt.

"What was that about?" I asked Tyler as I approached him and came to a standstill.

"Vicki. He has some sort of puppy dog crush on her...it's weird," Tyler replied. I raised my eyebrows at him and put a hand on my hip. "Sorry, Ems," He apologised immediately.

"He likes her. What can I say? Just...don't wind him up, Ty. I don't want my brother and my friend fghting," I said. Tyler nodded.

"Okay, okay. Just have a word with him, " Tyler replied. I nodded and then went to join Caroline and Bonnie in the car. Elena reached the car before me and as I slid in, she looked at me expectantly.

"You and Tyler okay?" She asked. I nodded.

"We're getting there." I replied as Bonnie pulled out of the parking space. I reached back and pulled on my seatbelt in an automatic action.

"Well I was talking to Grams and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was a lot of death." Bonnie explained. "So much in fact, it created a bed of paranormal activity," She finished. I felt a slight shiver run through me as a silence ran through the four of us sitting outside the Grill.

"Yeah...and then you poured her another shot and she told you about the aliens," Caroline said brightly, breaking the silence. "So then what?" She asked Elena. Elena shrugged.

"So then nothing,"

"You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline pressed. Elena shook her head.

"Nope, we didn't go there," She answered verbally.

"Not even a handshake? I mean, Elena, we are your friends. You are supposed to share the smut," Caroline complained. Me and Bonnie shared smirks at each other. We all knew Caroline's past sexual escapades.

"They just talked for hours, Care," I said as I took a sip of my berry smoothie.

"Okay, what is with the blockage?! Just jump his bones already!" She exclaimed. "Okay, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy...Sex," She added, eagerly.

"Profound," Elena retorted.

"Is that all you think about?" I added in question to Caroline as Elena got up from her seat and grabbed her bag.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asked her.

"Caroline's right," Elena said. I raised my eyebrows as Caroline grinned. "It is easy. If I sit here long enough I'll end up talking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was going to do," She finished, then looked at me. "Coming?" She asked. I shook my head.

"No, I'll let you confess your love by yourself. I'll get a lift from one of these later," I replied with a grin. Elena turned and walked down the sidewalk to our shared car whilst we all watched her.

"Okay, so she's loved up...Now we need you to be," Caroline said with determination. I shared a look with Bonnie, wishing I had gone with Elena as Caroline went through possible dates for me before zoning out.

An hour and a half later Elena, Jenna and I were all in the kitchen at home, cooking dinner.

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues," Elena was saying about her meeting at the Salvatore Boarding House with Stefan and his older brother, Damon. I raised my eyebrows.

"Well, at least it's an ex girlfriend. Wait until you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues..." Jenna said, then paused. "Or amphetamine issues,"

"Or temper issues," I muttered. Both women heard me and raised their eyebrows. "Hey, Tyler may have never aimed it at me but it was still a pain to see him blowing up if a guy even looked at me suggestively," I defended. They looked at each other and then shrugged their shoulders to show they agreed with me. Jeremy chose that moment to enter the frontdoor and go to head up the stairs.

"Jeremy?" Jenna called him, going through the hallway to the foot of the staircase. "Jeremy, where were you?" She asked.

"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it you were cool. And so that's...that's cool," Jeremy replied lazily, before going up the stars again.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Jenna exclaimed and threw the apple she was eating at his back, it successfully hit him on the back.

"Ow! Why?...Why would you do that?" He asked with surprise, turning back to look at her. I smirked.

"Listen up! Quit ditching class or you're grounded. No discussion," Jenna said with a hard tone. Jeremy just smirked in reply.

"Parental authority, I like it. Sleep tight," He said, before turning away once more for the final time. Jenna sighed in defeat and turned to look at me and Elena. We shook our heads in defeat as well. I did not know what the hell to do.

Caroline, Bonnie, Elena and I were all handing out pamphlets for the night of the Comet event. Elena and Bonnie was down the other end of the town square whilst Caroline and I were in the opposite direction.

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" I asked Caroline as I handed out several more pamphlets to people passing by me.

"Because you are a model student on many committees...including being Deputy Captain of the cheerleading squad...and my best friend," Caroline replied. I shot her a smile.

"You know how to blackmail a person, don't you?" I said, jokingly as Caroline smiled with victory.

"You know me well," Was all she said in reply before stopping and looking straight ahead. I turned to see what she was looking at and saw a dark haired stranger who was seriously hot. His eyes met mine and he frowned slightly before smirking at us. People walked in between us, blocking our view to him and his view to us. When the crowd had finally passed by, the stranger had vanished.

"Was that the guy?" I asked Caroline who nodded. "Hmm...I see," I said, before returning back to my original task. The stranger's eyes were still in my mind however.

"Come on...let's go and grab candles for everyone," She said as she put her pile of pamphlets on a small stand that was behind her. I followed her lead and we made our way to where the stall with the candles were. I grabbed two whilst Caroline did the same, then I saw Matt approaching us and he picked up a candle too, then lit it off a passing friend of his. He lit mine with a smile.

"Hey Emms," He greeted.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Come on you two," Caroline said as she made our way over to where Elena and Bonnie was stood.

"We haven't had much chance to catch up recently...or in months," Matt said as we began walking. I smiled softly but sadly too and he picked that up.

"Yeah...my head's been all over the place since..." I trailed off but Matt understand what I meant. Since the accident, since my parent's deaths.

"You were going through a tough time...I get that. I just miss my best friend is all," He replied softly. I gave him a small smile.

"Well, your best friend is slowly coming back to her old self," I told him.

"Good...I don't like seeing you like you've been," He replied, squeezing my arm as he put his arm around my shoulders. We reached the others and I gave Bonnie her candle and lit it for her, then I felt Matt tense and look to see Stefan talking to Elena. I squeezed his arm back comfortingly and moved him away to go and talk to Tyler and some other members of the football team who I was friends with through Matt and Tyler. I looked over my shoulder to Elena and Stefan, seeing that Caroline and Bonnie was also ferventlywatching Elena and Stefan from where they stood. I smiled and turned back to the conversation I was in.

Moments later I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Elena there, looking upset.

"Can we go to the Grill and talk?" She asked. I nodded and let her lead me away from everyone, across the street to the Grill. We sat down at a booth.

"What happened?" I asked her.

"He apologised about yesterday and then we talked about his older brother Damon and then...Katherine..." Elena trailed off.

"His ex?" I asked. Elena nodded. "So what did he say?" I asked.

"He admitted she broke his heart but said it was a long time ago...His expression said otherwise though," She answered. I nodded.

"Ah...so what did you say?"

"That I understand and basically it's not the right time for us to be dating," She said. I sighed and put my hand to my head.

"Oh, Lena," I groaned.

"You think I've done the wrong thing?" She asked worriedly. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm not you..." She looked on the verge of tears so I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Look, if he really likes you and wants you to be his that much, he'll find a way to get back into your good books. He won't leave it like this...just be patient and maybe not bring up his ex or his older brother for a while," I advised with a small smile. Elena gave me a small smile in return. We looked up as our group of friends entered the Grill, laughing and talking.

"It's like how it used to be, isn't it?" She said softly. I met her gaze and nodded. We got up and made our way over to them as Jeremy joined us as well.

"Has anyone saw Vicki?" He asked. Tyler looked pissed off instantly.

"You're her stalker, you tell us," He retorted. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"I can't find her," Jeremy directed at the rest of us, ignoring Tyler.

"She probably found somebody else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher. I guess you've been replaced," Tyler said. I turned him with a hand on my hip, frowning heavily.

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena asked, sounding annoyed.

"Ask him," Tyler said.

"We're asking you," I said with a hard tone. I felt looks given to me. Nobody had heard me speak in this tone to Tyler really before. Tyler went to say something but Jeremy cut him off.

"You wanna do this right now?"

"Are you dealing?" Elena asked Jeremy.

"She's never gonna go for you," Tyler said, smirking.

"She already did. Over and over again and over again," Jeremy replied smugly.

"You slept with Vicki Donovan? I mean, Vicki Donovan slept with you?" Caroline asked, sounding surprised.

"There's no way," Tyler said.

"Why don't you ask your ex girlfriend...since she caught us one time," Jeremy replied to him. I widened my eyes as everyone turned to look at me.

"You knew about this?" Elena asked me. I shrugged.

"It's no big deal, Elena. He's old enough to know what he's doing in that department. And she certainly is," I answered. I then turned to Tyler. "And you shouldn't make shit up about my brother dealing. I know he does drugs but he would never deal them," I told him harshly.

"I definitely didn't force her into sleeping with me, eh Tyler?" Jeremy said, still sounding smug. I swivelled to him, then back to Tyler, eyes wide. As did Matt.

"What the hell is he talking about, Ty?" Matt asked.

"Nothing man, just ignore him, he's a punk," Tyler replied to him. Elena, Jeremy and Caroline went to say something but Matt cut us all off.

"You know what...How about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?" He asked, sonding angry.

"We'll check the back," Bonnie said, motioning to her, Caroline and Tyler.

"I'll check the square," Matt said.

"I'll come with you Matt," I said, grabbing my bag.

"So will I," Jeremy added.

"Oh, no no no, you are coming with me," Elena said, dragging him off in the opposite direction. I followed Matt back out of the Grill doors and into the square outside. I saw Stefan walking towards us.

"Hey," Matt greeted him.

"Hey," Stefan said in reply.

"Have you seen my sister?" Matt asked him.

"No, sorry," Stefan said. I began to leave them and go around the side of the middle of the square. I carried on walking, then I turned to see that I couldn't see Matt or Stefan anywhere now.

"Oh great," I muttered to myself. I carried on walking down the street that led to school for a few minutes, then turned back and headed to the square. In the distance I saw

Vicki and grinned in relief. "Vicki!" I shouted. She saw me and walked, nearly ran to me. I hugged her. "Where have you been? No one had seen you and we've all been looking for you." I told her.

"I...uh,took some pills and it went a little blank, sorry Emms," She replied. I nodded, not commenting on it.

"Vicks...everyone knows about you and Jeremy...Him and Ty got into an argument and he let it out," I said. She groaned.

"Great...so now everyone knows I've screwed my best friend's and my brother's ex girlfriend's brother," She said.

"It doesn't matter if people does know. Just rise above it..." I said, then I saw that her stitches had come undone. "Come on let's get you into the warmth," I added, leading her to the Grill.

I pulled up outside the house and got out, grabbing my bag and then locking the car. I made my way up the path, steps and through the front door.

"Elena? Jenna?Jer?" I called out as I placed my bag onto the table in the hallway.

"Upstairs!" Elena called from the top of the staircase. I ran up the stairs and found her and Jenna in Jeremy's room.

"Oh, god...you're doing a drug search, aren't you?" I said as I leant against the doorframe.

"She got tannered," Elena gave in way of explanation.

"Oh...been there," I said in reply.

"'Discover the impossible, Ms Sommers.' Got it...like I didn't know I was screwing up," Jenna said bitterly.

"You're not screwing up, Jenna," Elena said comfortingly.

"Yes I am...You know why?" Jenna replied, standing up straight. "Because I'm not her. She made everything look so easy...You know, high school, marriage, having you two. I can't do it. I'm gonna say or do the wrong thing and he's gonna get worse and it's gonna be my fault. It's impossible," She finished, sitting down on Jeremy's bed heavily.

I went to sit next to her and grabbed her hand.

"Jenna...You have helped me and Elena and even Jeremy so much since Mom and Dad died...if you hadn't been here for us I don't know what we would have done...This is just the fear talking. You're a little scared that's all...Deep down, we all are," I said to her. She nodded, smiling at me gratefully.

"I have to go do something...Will you two be okay here?" Elena spoke up from the doorway again. We both nodded at her. I cocked my head to the side and raised my eyebrow, silently asking her if she was going to go and do the thing I think she was. She grinned and gave slight nod before disappearing around the doorframe. I turned back to Jenna.

"Come on...let's so order pizza and curl up on the couch," I said to her. She nodded, got up and we left Jeremy's room behind.


	3. Chapter 3- Friday Night Bites

Episode 3- Friday Night Bites

The next morning Elena, Bonnie and I were walking from the parking lot of school to our lockers.

"I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow," Bonnie was saying in reply to Elena telling her about Stefan and her's kiss.

"You were the one who said to go for it," Elena protested.

"Now I'm saying take it slow," Bonnie retorted.

"Why the about-face?" Elena asked, coming to a stand still on a grass section.

"It's not an about-face. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." Bonnie said.

"Oh, because I'm so that girl... Seriously what are you not saying?" Elena was frowning now.

"It's stupid," Bonnie said immediately.

"Bonnie..." I spoke up.

"What?" She asked me.

"Spit it out," I told her. I folded my arms.

"I accidentally touched Stefan and I got a really bad feeling." Bonnie confessed.

"Is that it? Bonnie..." Elena started.

"It was bad bad!" Bonnie protested.

"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" I asked. Bonnie shot me a glare.

"You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend," She told me sternly. I held up my hands in surrender action.

" And I love you for it. I do. But I feel good." Elena started. "It's been a hard year and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what?

Stefan is a big part of that," She finished, looking at us both simply.

"Well, now that we have that cleared...Since I'm also single does that mean I should be playing the field?" I asked Bonnie teasingly. Elena laughed and Bonnie winked at me, but

then her face turned to another emotion that I couldn't read. I turned to see Stefan approaching us.

"Good Morning, Elena, Bonnie, Emmie," He said to us all, smiling at each of us but Elena's was the biggest smile, of course. I smiled back immediately.

"Hey...um...I gotta find Caroline. She's not answering her phone so I'll see you guys later," Bonnie said sort of hurriedly said before walking away from us all.

"Bonnie, wait..." I trailed off. "For me," I finished, then turned to Elena and Stefan. "So, can I walk with you two lovebirds and not look like I'm third wheeling please? Since

Bonnie just ditched me," I said to them. Stefan and Elena smiled.

"Of course you can," Stefan said as Elena nodded and pulled me into a side hug. "She doesn't like me very much," He added, looking after Bonnie.

"She doesn't know you. She's our best friend and she's just looking out for me. But when she does, she will love you," Elena answered. She paused for a moment, clearly

thinking. "Here's what we're going to do. Are you free tonight?" She directed to Stefan.

"Yes," He replied not even hesitating. I smiled to myself.

"Perfect...Dinner. My house. Eight pm. You, me, Emms and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she'll get to see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished,"

She told us. "Plus, I feel like you and Ems haven't really hung out before and you really need too since she's my twin and you are my boyfriend," She added, looking

between us. I shared a look with Stefan.

"Well since me and Stefan have Geometry together right now and you don't...we'll start our bonding," I replied to Elena. Suddenly Stefan turned and caught a soccer ball,

Elena laughed as I looked to see who had thrown it and I saw it was Tyler. I shot him a 'Really?' look then turned away from him.

"That throw was insane, I didn't know you played football," Elena was saying to Stefan.

"I used to. It was a long time ago," He replied.

"Why don't you try out for the team then?" I suggested.

"Yeah, I don't think so Ems," Stefan replied. I smiled at his casual use of my nickname that everyone gave me.

"So you don't like football?" Elena asked, sounding slightly confused.

"No, I love football. I think it's a great sport...But in this case, I don't think football likes me. You saw Tyler over there and we both know how Matt feels," He replied with

reason. I scoffed.

"Forget Tyler. He's an ass," I put in. Both of them looked at me in surprise. "Okay, he wasn't always an ass. Me dumping him made him like that," I said softly. Both looked

sympathetic at me and I shrugged it off. "Look, Stefan, Matt and Tyler don't know you. To them, you're the mysterious loner guy... Make friends with them and like Bonnie,

they'll love you or at least let you on the football team," I told him.

"Says the girl who spends her alone time with her sister in the cemetery," Stefan replied back, with a teasing smile. I laughed as I said

"Hey, come on! There's more to me and Elena than just gloomy graveyard girls. There is a whole other Elena and Emmie that you have yet to meet. We were into everything, very

busy,"

"Well I look forward to meeting them then," Stefan replied. "And when will that be?" He asked us. Me and Elena looked at each other then smiled.

"We're working on it," Elena told him. We heard the first bell go, addressing the fact that we had ten minutes to go until we had to be in lesson.

"We'd better go," Stefan said, pecking Elena on the lips then walking with me to Geometry whilst Elena went in the opposite direction to Geography.

"Right, you sure about this?" I said to Elena as we walked to the field where the football team and the cheerleadering team were practising. She nodded but still didn't look sure.

I sighed and carried on, reaching our team and smiling as nearly all of them smiled and said hello to me. I dropped my bag down and looked around for Caroline.

"Tiki, where's Care?" I asked. She looked up from her stretching position and shrugged.

"No idea. Bonnie says she's texted her a load of times and she hasn't replied. If she doesn't turn up, are you going to be alright to lead us?" She asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah I'll be fine...wished she'd let me know though," I replied. Tiki nodded her head in agreement. At that moment, a car pulled up with Caroline in it and the guy from the other

night. Her mystery guy. She leant over and kissed him. I heard Elena say

"That's Damon Salvatore," and I turned back to the guy quickly to see him smirk at Elena, then his gaze fixed on me and he winked. I narrowed my eyes as he drove off. I

turned to Elena and she had her eyebrows raised at me. I shrugged showing her I was equally confused at why Damon Salvatore had winked at me as I heard Caroline say

"I got the other brother...Hope you or Emms doesn't mind," I scoffed as she made her way to me. "Sorry I was late girls...I was uh, busy," Caroline said to everyone. "Right

let's begin with the double pike herkey hurdler," She said. We all got into our positions and began practising. I could see that Elena was struggling but Caroline got to her

before I could. "Elena, sweety, why don't you observe today?" She said, sounding smug. I turned to her and smiled sweetly.

"Caroline babe...Your bitch is showing," I said sounding equally as sweet. Caroline looked surprised but shrugged it off. I wasn't being mean. I loved Caroline but when it came

down to her being a bitch to Elena...I'd get a dig in.

"And from the top...five, six, seven, eight!" Caroline shouted as we went through the routine once more.

A couple of hours later, Bonnie, Elena and I were preparing the food for our dinner night with Stefan. Bonnie was telling us about her psychic powers.

"You explain it. Last night, I'm watching Nine-O...a commerical break comes on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial. Sure enough it is...it's that guy and the girl with the

bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture," Bonnie said.

"Oh come on," I cut her off, laughing slightly. "That commercial's on a constant loop,"

"Fine...Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing eight, fourteen and twenty two...How weird is that?" Bonnie asked. I shrugged.

"Okay that is weird," I agreed.

"Have you talked to your Grams about it?" Elena asked.

"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch...Do you want to be a witch?" She replied.

"I don't want to be a witch," Elena said back.

"Me neither," I added.

"And putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody," Bonnie said slyly, looking at us both. Elena and I glanced at each other with guilty expressions before shrugging at

Bonnie.

"Ok...where are the serving spoons?" Elena asked, looking around the kitchen.

"Middle drawer on your left," Bonnie said immediately. We both looked at her in surprise. She just shrugged and Elena opened the drawer she'd said. There were the serving

spoons.

"Okay...so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times," Elena replied.

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie replied, not sounding confident. At that moment, the doorbell rang and we all looked up at Elena.

"Okay, he's here. Don't be nervous...Just be your normal...loving self," Elena said to Bonnie before leaving the kitchen to answer the door to Stefan. I looked at Bonnie but she

just said "Birthday candles," and opened the door directly in front of her. I watched her with a frown as she picked up the birthday candles and showed me. My eyes widened

in surprise. She gave me a look. I gave her a look back and then we both moved to greet Stefan.

We were eating later and the conversation was awkward to say the least.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Well, he let me on the team...so I must have done something right," Stefan replied. I smiled.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him and..." Elena said to Bonnie, trying to include her into the conversation.

"Yeah, I heard," Bonnie said shortly. I kicked her under the table, causing her to shoot me a glare in response but I just sent her a sweet smile in response.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena suggested to her.

"Um...divorced, no mom. Live with my dad," Bonnie said, shortly once again. I kicked Bonnie more under the table. She glared at me more fiercely.

"She meant about the witches, Bon." I started. "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches." I finished.

"It's really cool," Elena added.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie replied.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the eighteen hundreds." Stefan said.

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie retorted.

"Really? Salem witches?" Stefan asked, looking interested. Elena and I glanced at each other, glad a conversation was starting to emerge between the two.

"Yeah," Bonnie said.

"I would say that's pretty cool," Stefan said.

"Really, why?" Bonnie questioned.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity," Stefan answered.

"Yeah, they are," Bonnie said with a small smile. I smiled at Elena, glad she was thawing to him. Suddenly the doorbell went again and I got up to get it, whilst Elena said

"I wonder who that could be," with a confused tone. I opened the door to see Caroline and...Damon Salvatore.

"Surprise! Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert," Caroline said with a grin.

"Oh," I said.

"Hope you don't mind," Caroline added as she walked in through the front door. I turned back to Damon.

"I'm Damon Salvatore," Damon said.

"Yeah I uh, sort of know...I'm Emmie, Elena's sister," I replied. I was just about add that he could come in when Stefan's voice behind me cut me off.

"What are you doing here?" He asked Damon.

"Waiting for Emmie to let me in," Damon answered.

"Oh yeah...He can come-" I started to say but Stefan cut me off again.

"No,no,no. He can't stay...Can you Damon?"

"Get in here," Caroline from by the living room.

"We're just...finshing up," Stefan protested.

"It's fine...Come on in Damon," I said with a smile and a confused look to Stefan. Elena was right...Stefan and Damon had a tension between them that was just...uncomfortable.

"You have a beautiful home, Emmie," Damon said to me.

"Thank you," I replied. Then I added to Caroline. "I'll serve dessert if we're all ready," Everyone agreed and I went into the kitchen whilst everyone else headed back towards

the living room.

As I began taking the portions of dessert through on a serving tray, I caught the conversation.

"I cannot believe that Mister Tanner let you on the team. Tyler must be seething...But good for you. Go for it," Caroline was saying.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you...You have to go get it," Damon said in response.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today...It's only because you missed summer camp...God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines," Caroline stated a little bitchily.

"Well, Bonnie and I can catch her up, Caroline...Afterall, I am Deputy Captain," I answered with an eyebrow raise.

"I guess we can put her in the back," Caroline said thoughtfully.

"Well, we," I emphaised the 'we'. "Can talk about it at some other point," I said with a finality.

"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena...Emmie does though," Damon spoke up, causing me to inwardly groan as the topic was brought up once more.

"Oh, it's just 'cause her and Emmie parents have died...Yeah, Elena took it harder than Emmie, though Ems went through a 'blah' phase too...Elena just hasn't run out of the

phase yet," Caroline said. I shot her an unbelieving look. As did Elena and Bonnie. "She used to be way more fun...Elena I mean, not Emmie. Emmie still has maintained her fun-

ness. And I say that with complete sensivity," Caroline finished.

"As much sensivity as a toothpick," I said quietly but I knew all of them had heard my bitter comment.

"I'm sorry...Elena, Emmie." Damon said with sincereity. "I know what it's like to lose both of your parents...Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever

cared about die," He finished. I looked between the two of them curiously.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon," Stefan said tightly.

"Oh you know what, you're right, Stef...I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up..Mmm..." Damon replied with a knowing look towards Stefan. Bonnie looked

oblivious but I knew Elena had some sort of idea about the 'her' Damon was talking about. As the conversation began changing to a more positive area of topic, I kept relatively

quiet but watched the relationship between Damon and Stefan closely. They made me suspicious and I could almost tell that neither Caroline or Elena should be caught up in

whatever was going on between them.

I was just writing in my journal, tucked up in bed when I heard a scream coming from Elena's room. I shot up quickly and ran through our shared bathroom to her.

"You okay?" I asked hurriedly. She nodded.

"I'm fine...Just a nightmare," She replied. I nodded and walked back into my own room, looking around her room one more time before I left fully. I closed the bathroom door to

my room and looked around my own room, jumping in fright as I saw the crow at the window. Then it was gone again and I strode towards the window, drawing the curtains

in a fast moment.

"Just a bird, Emmie, just a bird," I told myself as I climbed into bed and picked up my journal again along with my pen and carried on writing.

"Morning," I said to Jenna as I walked down the stairs.

"Morning Emms," She replied. "Morning Lena," She added, looking behind me. I turned to see Elena in her normal clothes, not the cheerleading uniform she was meant to be

wearing.

"God, you're quitting aren't you?" I said. She looked guilty but nodded. I sighed. "You have to be the one to tell Caroline, not me," Was all I said before making my way into

the kitchen and pouring myself a cup of coffee from the pot.

"You don't mind, do you?" Elena asked me, as she followed me into the kitchen. I turned as I took a sip of the coffee.

"Of course not. Cheerleading's not your thing anymore...I get it. However, cheerleading is my thing still so I need to get a move on so I can be there before Caroline is there," I

replied. She nodded as I moved around the kitchen, grabbing the stuff I'd need for the day. "You getting a lift with me?" I asked her.

"Yeah," She replied, picking up her jacket from the dining table whilst I put on my cheerleading jacket to match my uniform. Elena motioned to me that she was ready and we

headed to the front door.

"Bye, Jenna, Jeremy!" I called as I opened the door.

"See you later!" Jenna called back to us. Jeremy didn't reply so I guessed either he'd gone out before I'd appeared or was still asleep. Elena shut the door behind her and locked

it, then climbed into the passenger seat of my car as I turned on the engine. I pulled out onto the road and Elena leaned forward and put the radio on.

"So, last night was...awkward?" I said questioningly. Elena nodded slowly. "Right, I love Caroline and all but whoever that was last night that turned up on Damon Salvatore's

arm was not our best friend..." I continued.

"Stefan did say that Damon was persuasive...manipulative," Elena replied.

"What? So he manipulated Care into being a bitch to you? Na da...He's just a bad influence on her," I said. "And talking of that? What the hell is Stefan's and Damon's

relationship because the tension last night at the front door was just weird," I finished.

"Damon and Stefan both dated Katherine," Elena stated. I looked at her breifly with a shocked expression.

"What?!" I exclaimed, looking back to the road. "Oh my god," I added.

"Yeah...so that's the cause of the tension." Elena said. I nodded in agreement. "What do you think of Damon?" She asked as an afterthought. I bit my lip.

"I think he's hot," I admitted straight away. "But so does half of the female population that he's met, I bet...I also think he likes to taunt Stefan a lot in a brotherly way but more than that...He clearly does not forgive Stefan for something...Yeah, he can be an ass but I think he's just a complicated guy." I said honestly. Elena nodded. "Why?" I questioned.

"Nothing really...you're my sister and you have a good judgement of people," She replied. I nodded and gave her a smile as I pulled into the school parking lot and parked in a empty space. I turned off the engine and got out, grabbing my bag from the backseat of the car, Elena mirroring my actions. We then seperated our directions as I headed to the group of cheerleaders who were currently warming up. Bonnie was there and she smiled at me as I approached the group, dumping my bag with the rest of the pile on the nearest picnic bench.

"Hey," She said as I lowered into the splits beside her.

"Hey," I replied with a smile.

"Where's Elena?" She asked.

"Quit...Cheerleading's not her thing anymore and I understand that...Just hope Caroline does as well," I answered. Bonnie replied with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, after last night I'm not so sure either," I added.

"What was up with her? Caroline can be a bitch at the majority of times...but never like that," Bonnie said. I shrugged.

"All I can say is bad influences...anyway, since Caroline isn't here at the moment, I should be the perfect deputy and call a practise on the routine," I said as I got up out of my position and went to the front of the group. "All right! Positions everyone!" I called. Everyone smiled and got into their places. "Okay and a one, two, three, four...five, six, seven, eight!" I carried on calling. I saw Caroline talking to Elena in the distance and inwardly sighed. Then I turned back to the group. "And again! one two three four, five six, seven, eight!"

I finished cheering for Tanner's speech and moved away, looking for Elena. Then I saw Jeremy and Tyler fighting. I ran over and pulled on Tyler's arm.

"Tyler! Stop!" I shouted, but he wouldn't listen to me. Jeremy was on the floor. "Tyler?!" I screamed. Suddenly a pair of arms restrained Tyler and I looked up to see it was Stefan.

"Hey! He's down! Enough!" Stefan said in a firm voice. Tyler turned and punched Stefan. I gasped. Suddenly Jeremy moved forwards and went at Tyler with a broken glass bottle. Tyler moved me out of the way in time, his arms wrapping around me. I looked back to see Jeremy had cut Stefan's hand. Elena was now here as well. Tyler went to go for Jeremy again.

"Tyler, knock it off!" Matt shouted.

"What the hell, Jeremy?" I asked, my tone sounding pissed off,which I was.

"Put your head up, you're bleeding," Elena said in an authoritive but caring voice.

"I'm fine!" Jeremy protested. I yanked his head up in anger.

"Yeah, you smell fine," I said sarcastically, referring to the smell of alcohol on him.

"Just stop okay?" He said sharply.

"No I will not stop when you just got into a fight with my ex boyfriend and then went for him with a glass bottle...Jeremy...I was stood right in front of him...what was you going to do? Push me out of the way? Cut me too?" I said, losing my temper totally on him. He looked surprised, knowing I was never the one to go mad on him usually. He went to say something but I shook my head and just walked away, leaving Matt and Elena to deal with it. I saw Caroline with Tiki, holding up a banner and I walked up to her, all past feelings of the night before gone as I laid my head on her shoulder.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Jeremy and Tyler just had a fight," I told her quickly. She nodded in comfort and put her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I saw Elena was heading my way towards Bonnie who wasn't stood far away from us. She pulled away and passed me a beer bottle. I took it from and swigged a hug gulp of it, then sent her a thankful look. "I'm gonna go to the changing room and grab a few minutes peace," I told her before moving away.

"I'll text you before the game starts!" She called behind me.

I made my way to the changing room and stopped when I saw Damon stood in the doorway. He saw me and smiled.

"Hey...Gilbert two," He said. I slid past him into the changing room and went to my bag, grabbing my water bottle. "Why the silence?" He asked.

"Because you're a bad influence on Caroline...and I think you and Stefan have issues that my sister does not need to be dragged into right now, don't you?" I replied tersely.

"What about you?" I flinched as his voice sounded right down my ear. I turned and saw him close up. "What's your role in all of this?" He asked.

"Being a sister and a best friend...Now if you-" I was cut off by Damon's lips on mine. I kissed back, then pulled away sharply in shock and guilt. "What the hell?" I hissed.

Damon just smirked.

"See you later, Gilbert two," Was all he said as he sauntered from the changing room and out of sight. I could still feel the essence of the kiss on my lips. I bit my lip.

"Ah, hell," I whispered out loud. I'd just kissed Damon Salvatore.

Twenty minutes later I heard Matt's voice close by, screaming for help. I ran out of the changing room and to the exit door at the end of the corridor between the locker room and changing room.

"Matt. what's wrong?"I asked as I saw him staring in horror at something on the floor. Matt turned to look at me.

"Emms...just stay there. Please," He said, holding his hand up at me. I shok my head and walked forwards to see Tanner's body on the floor, blood pooling his body. I screamed in horror as Matt's arms wrapped around me. People came running from all around, their faces turning to ones of horror as they took in the scene. Tyler came to stand by us as people called the emergency teams. I was crying silently by now, shock running through my body.

"Matt, we need to get Emms to sit down somewhere. She's in shock," Tyler said, his voice quiet but with a tone of shock in it. I saw Elena and Stefan, along with Caroline and Bonnie from the other side of the parking lot. Matt and Tyler helped me over to them and they put their arms around me.

"Here," Stefan said, passing his jacket to Elena. She placed it around my shoulders, then hugged me tightly.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked after a few moments. "Stupid question," She said immediately afterwards as the police and ambulance pulled in close by to us.

"I'm better...it was just a shock, is all," I replied. I noticed Tyler was handing me a cup of coffee and as I took it from I could smell the sugar in it. "Thanks Ty," I said, giving him a small smile. He smiled back and sat on the other side of me, hand going to my back and rubbing it. I felt the familiar comfort from him immediately and I leaned into him slightly.

I saw Matt, Caroline and Bonnie sharing glances with each other. "Where's Jeremy?" I asked Elena and she shrugged but looked worried. "Go. Find him. Matt and Ty will stay with me plus I'll probably need to talk to Liz or someone before I'm allowed to go," I said to her. She got up unsurely and began to move away and I mouthed to Stefan to go with her. Caroline's phone went off and as she answered it I knew who it was. Damon. Hell. I put my head in my hands as the guilt re- washed over me. I'd kissed Damon Salvatore, Caroline's boyfriend, Elena's boyfriend's brother...generally if anyone found out, I'd be in deep trouble.

After an hour of hanging around school, being questioned by various people, I'd been drove home by Elena who'd sent me to bed immediately. I was now curled up in my bed, reading my favourite novel of all times, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Journal writing was forgone for tonight, simply because I didn't want to think about the Damon- kiss or the death of Mr Tanner. I just wanted to read my book, submerse myself in the world of Heathcliff and Kathy and not think about anything else. Slowly my eyes began to drift close and I fell asleep.

What seemed like moments later, I was awoken by what seemed like a touch on my forehead. I sat up slightly and looked around my room. No one was there...nothing had changed except the fact that my book was now on the nightstand rather than on the bed next to me when I'd fallen asleep...


	4. Chapter 4- Family Ties

I woke up early the next morning feeling confused and slightly weary. I got up, wrote in my journal, then went to get ready. Elena didn't wake up until I was just getting ready to

go down to breakfast.

"You okay, Emms?" She asked me as she stretched. I nodded.

"Yeah...of course I'm still shocked. I mean, this creature or whatever came into the school grounds...But I need to move on and try and focus on other things and not on death

and negative, worrying stuff. So I'm going to go and get breakfast and then figure out what to do today since school is shut..." I said with a positive tone. Elena nodded, then

smiled.

"So...um...you do realise Tyler still has feelings for you right?" She asked. I shot her a look that said 'do not go there'.

"I'm perfectly aware...I'm not sure how to deal with it. I mean, I love Tyler, I always will but I made the right choice by lettign him go, plus he's hooking up with Vicki and she likes

him...well I think she does." I paused. "Anyway, moral of the story is that I'm pretty sure you're not meant to go back to your ex. Girlcode," I finished. Elena just nodded.

"Well, glad that's sorted. On other news, you should probably talk to Jer...He was quite upset after you gave him the dressing down he so needed," She said. I nodded.

"Notified. I'll sort it out," I said, before going to the bathroom door that led to my bedroom, leaving Elena to get ready. I went across the hall and pushed open Jeremy's door

slightly to see he was still fast asleep. He looked peaceful and so much younger than he actually was, making my heart sink, that I closed the door and let him sleep.

Apologising to him could wait until later. I went downstairs and saw Jenna sat in the kitchen on one of the island barstools, eating her breakfast. She looked up as she heard

me approaching and got up immediately to hug me.

"How are you, Emmie?" She asked me seriously.

"I'm fine...seriously, Jenna. I'm still a little shocked, but I'm fine," I replied. She nodded and went to the coffee pot, pouring me a cup and passing it to me. I sent a nod of thanks

as I pulled my phone out of my short pockets after it went off. It was a text from Caroline.

Carex: How you feeling this morning? Or is a shopping trip needed to distract you? x

I felt the wave of guilt run through me as I, once again, remembered Damon's lips on mine before realising that it was stupid, stupid mistake. For some strange reason, Damon

had kissed me and yes, I had kissed him back for one point two seconds but I'd pushed him away. It was just a mistake and one I could, yes, feel guilty about but could forget

as well in time. So I texted Caroline back telling her I would pick her up in an hour's time to go shopping with her. Meanwhile, I had breakfast and then went to talk to Jeremy.

I knocked on his bedroom door.

"Come in!" He called. I opened the door and he sighed when he saw me. "How you feeling?" He said after a moment's hesitation and silence.

"I'm okay...Look, Jere I'm sorry about kicking off at you last night. It's just I was worried that Tyler had really hurt you and then you pulled the stunt with the bottle..." I trailed off.

"I'm sorry too. I drank too much," He replied. Then he held out his arms to me. "Hug?" He asked. I broke into a smile and walked forwards to hug him tightly.

"We okay?" I asked him.

"We're better than okay," Jeremy replied. I pulled away.

"Good. Okay, I'm going shopping with Caroline for some kind of therapy- her words not mine- so I'll see you later," I said as I left the room.

The rest of the week went fairly normal. The memorial for Mr Tanner was held and school went back to normal- almost. History class was cancelled for the time being until they

found a replacement for Mr Tanner. I saw a lot of Stefan but not that much of Damon, which I was thankful for and the one time I did see Damon he'd acted perfectly normal and

even more charming than usual, acting surprised when I'd treated him with a cold attitude.

"To repeat, the animal terrorising Mystic Falls has been caught," The new reporter's voice rang out through the living room as I passed with the box of stuff from the Gilbert

safe desposit box.

"Scum ball. Scum bucket," Jenna said as she watched the news reporter.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked her.

"Him," Jenna said with a nod towards the television screen. I took a look at the news reporter.

"The news guy?" Elena questioned, making me jump as she appeared behind me.

"Also known as Logan "Scum" Fell." She paused, then looked towards us. "Did your Mum ever tell you why I moved away from Mystic Falls?" She questioned. I raised my

eyebrows as Elena gave a chuckle.

"No way. You and him?" Elena asked.

"He's cute," I added. Jenna scoffed.

"He is not cute. There is nothing cute about him. What are you doing with that?" She asked as she took in the box in my arms.

"Me and Elena went yesterday and got it from the safe deposit box. Mom had told Mrs Lockwood she would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display," I

explained as I took into the kitchen with the other two following me. I sat down and opened the lid of the box, pulling out a ring.

"Isn't that Grandma Beth's wedding ring?" Jenna asked.

"Originally it was Great-Great-Grandma Mary's wedding ring," Elena informed her as I passed it to her. Jeremy appeared in the doorway.

"How much do you think this stuff is worth? You know...like on eBay?" He asked. I shot him an exasperated look.

"You're not gonna find out," Elena told him dryly.

"That stuff is Mom and Dad's. You can't just give it away," Jeremy said with an irritated tone.

"We're not giving it away, Jeremy...It's called a loan," I said with an exasperated tone. At that moment, the doorbell rang and Elena went to go and answer it, a smile on her face.

Stefan, it was then. I watched as they went upstairs together and turned to Jenna and Jeremy. "Guess I'm sorting this stuff out by myself then," I said. Both just smirked but neither

volunteered to help me.

An hour later I decided to meet Caroline and Bonnie at the Grill. I arrive there before them and was waved over by Carol and Charles Lockwood- also known as Tyler's parents.

Tyler was also sat there.

"Emmie, honey...how are you?" Carol said, hugging me.

"I'm fine, Carol, hey Charles, Ty," I replied, hugging Tyler and Charles.

"Have a seat with us," Charles said and I slotted in next to Tyler.

"Are you meeting someone honey?" Carol inquired.

"Caroline and Bonnie...We're talking Founder's Party," I replied with a smile. Carol laughed.

"What a coindecence! So are we...well I'm trying too...the men are too preoccupied with soccer," She said.

"Aren't these two always?" I asked with a teasing smile towards Tyler and Charles. They laughed. "And that reminds me, whilst we're talking Founder's Party...when would

you like me or Elena to bring the family stuff to you?" I asked as an added thought. Carol waved her hand.

"I'll send Tyler around tomorrow morning," She said. "Is your dress all sorted for tomorrow night?" She asked. This was one of the things I loved about Carol Lockwood, yeah

her and Charles could be the bitch and dick of Mystic Falls, but they treated me like a daughter. And Carol was always there if I needed someone to go to and I couldn't go to

anyone else. I nodded in reply to her question. "Tell me more," She said.

"Well, it's a dark blue...I'll show you a picture of it," I said, pulling otu my phone and accessing my photo album. I turned the phone to her and she smiled as she saw the dress.

"Oh, it will look a dream on you tomorrow night...you always know your fashion," She said. I shrugged.

"I grew up with Caroline Forbes as my best friend, what can I say?" I replied. At that moment, I saw Caroline and Bonnie walking through the doors so I made my excuses and

walked over to them.

"Do you have a date for tomorrow night?" Bonnie asked quickly. I shook my head. "Well, guess I'm with you then," She said. I smiled.

"Yep...we're the only singles left, Bon," I replied. "Since Caroline had Damon and Elena has Stefan," I added.

"Yeah, on that note...What does your Mom think about Damon?" Bonnie asked Caroline as we took our seats at a booth by the bar.

"And I'm supposed to care, why?" Caroline replied.

"He's older, sexy, danger guy," Bonnie stated. I raised my eyebrows. As did Caroline.

"Older, sexy, danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?" She replied sarcastically. Bonnie frowned and hunched her shoulders slightly.

"No more witch jokes, okay? That whole Mister Tanner prediction thing has me freaked," She said firmly but I could see the slight fear in her eyes. Bonnie had been obsessed

with numbers for days before Tanner died. Then she'd saw the same three numbers around where he'd died. Needless to say, it was pretty freaky in itself and I wasn't even

Bonnie.

"Okay. And Damon's not dangerous. You know, he just has a lot of issues with his brother." She paused, glancing to me worriedly. "You know, like major, deep-rooted drama,"

I frowned.

"Like...?" Bonnie pressed.

"I'm not supposed to say anything really," Caroline said.

"Caroline Forbes, when have you ever kept a secret in your life?" I asked. She shot me a worried look once more.

"Okay, fine...But Emms...you can't tell Elena." She said. At this I shot a glance with Bonnie.

"No," Was all I said.

The next evening Bonnie, Elena and I were in my bedroom, getting ready for the Founder's Party. Tyler had texted me to say he was on the way to collect the family heirlooms

so I was waiting for him more than actually getting ready. I heard the doorbell go and got up to get it. As I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw Jeremy about to shut the door

in Tyler's face.

"Jer! He's here for the family stuff," I said firmly, going past them and picking up the box, then taking it back to the front door. "Here you go...And be careful with it Ty, please,"

I said as Tyler tended to have a clumsy streak at times.

"Yeah be careful with it, dick," Jeremy added angrily. I shot him a glare.

"Stop it, both of you. I'm not doing this now," Was all I said.

"I'm fine. He's just being a punk," Tyler replied, glaring at Jeremy behind me.

"I got your punk," Jeremy replied tersely.

"I don't get it with you two. You were at least civil when me and Ty were dating. Suddenly Vicki comes along and it's like world war three," I said, shaking my head. Both of them

seemed to back off slightly, looking guilty but the glare was still there in both of their eyes so I sighed. "Tyler, you should go...I'll see you and Carol tonight," I said. Tyler nodded,

kissed my cheek and went to walk off, then turned back to Jeremy and I.

"Would it make a difference if I told you I actually liked Vicki?" He seemed to ask Jeremy.

"Not even if you meant it," Jeremy said. Tyler turned back and walked off to his car. I shut the door and turned to Jeremy.

"Why have you and him got to do this?" I asked. "He's my friend Jeremy," I added, trying to reason with him.

"He's also your ex...why did you dump him again?" Jeremy asked spitefully and I pursed my lips and went back upstairs. As I entered my bedroom and shut my door with a

bang, I caught the worried stare of Elena and Bonnie.

"I swear to god I am at the end of my tether with Jeremy..." I said with an angry tone. "And Tyler,"I added, sitting down next to Elena on my bed.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"They just antaganize each other so much! Just leave it alone already!" I said in way of an explanation. I breathed deeply and then looked at my sister and best friends. "Right,

let's get ready for this and not think of my ex and my brother havign this stupid constant battle," I told them. They nodded. I then looked at them closely. I turned to Bonnie. "So,

you told her about what Caroline said?" I asked. Bonnie looked guilty but nodded.

"What do you think of it?" Elena asked. I got up and went to get my chosen nail varnish colour of light pink that was called bubble bath as I thought about my answer.

"I think that it's a very one sided thought process of a long feud...I also think that Damon can be very persuasive and manipulative at times...He likes to get his own way and

part of his problem with Stefan is that at some point he didn't." I said. Elena looked at Bonnie slightly victoriously. "Also, much as I love Caroline with all of my heart, she likes

to exaggerate the drama at times." I added firmly.

A while later I came out of the bathroom to see Elena leaving the bedroom in her angry mode.

"Er...what's going on?" I asked Bonnie. She shrugged.

"She got a call from Mrs Lockwood," Was her reply. Then she caught sight of me in my dress. "Wow. You look gorgeous," She added with a smile.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile. Elena came back in, looking guilty and upset. "What is it?" I asked her.

"You know that pocket watch of Dad's?" She asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah the one he was going to give Jeremy," I replied. "What about it?" I asked. She gave me a look and I suddenly realised exactly what had happened. "Oh Elena Gilbert, tell

me you didn't." She nodded in a small gesture. I sighed and handed out my hand for the pocket watch. She placed it in my hands and I left my bedroom and went across the

landing and into Jeremy's. "Jer..." I said, then realised he was listening to his music. "Jeremy!" I shouted. He looked up at me, then sighed but took his headphones out. "The

pocket watch, it's yours now and if you don't want it to go to the Lockwood Mansion then you can keep it and I'll just tell Carol that I couldn't find it," I told him, placing the

pocket watch into his hand. He gave me a small smile as I went to leave.

"Hey...you uh, look great," He said awkwardly but I could tell he meant it. I smiled, leant down, kissed his forehead like I used to do and then left him to it. Bonnie was on the

landing, waiting for me.

"Stefan's on his way so shall we head out now?" She asked. I nodded and quickly ran into the bedroom to grab my bag and say a see you later to Elena. Me and Bonnie made

our way downstairs and into Bonnie's car. It was a comfortable silence in the car until I spoke up.

"It's strange isn't it?" I said. Bonnie glanced over to me with a slighly confused expression on her face. "How much can change in a year?" I continued. Her face looked pained

and sympathetic for a moment before she rubbed my arm.

"We could skip tonight if you don't feel like it anymore," She offered. I shook my head.

"No, Elena would only worry...and anyway, Mom would have wanted me there...I am the next history nerd in the family after her," I said with a small smile. Bonnie smiled too.

The party was in full swing when I finally found Elena in the room with our family's stuff- also with Damon.

"Hey," I said softly as I paused in the doorway.

"Hey," Elena said back with a smile.

"Not interuppting an important conversation was I?" I asked them. Damon shook his head.

"No, of course not...I was just apologising to Elena for being a world class jerk to her the other night," He explained.

"Yeah...I uh, notice you do that," I said. Elena looked confused between us.

"I was quite rude to Emmie the other night as well," Damon admitted, looking guilty. I raised an eyebrow.

"You could say that," I murmured.

"I'm sorry, my actions were un gentlemanly of me and I was incensed by an arguement with Stefan," Damon said solely to me.

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again, Damn and we'll be fine," I replied. "So, found anything interesting in this room?" I asked, changing the topic.

"Well, apparently, the Salvatore's have been here for a long time...they were on the register for the first Founder's Party," Elena answered. I turned to Damon, interested.

"The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town. Until the war. There was a battle here-" Damon started to say.

"The Battle of Willow Creek," I interuppted him.

"Right," Damon said.

"I know we talked about it in class...Also I'm a history nerd," I explained. "Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside,"

"What the history books left out was the people that were killed. They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the

confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive. Stefan and Damon had two people they lived very much in that church. And then they went to rescue

them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood," Damon told us. I frowned and saw Elena was as well.

"Who were the two people in the church that they wanted to save?" Elena asked him. Damon shot us a half smile.

"Two women, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" He asked in response.

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have this thing between you but I can't get in the middle of it...neither can Emmie, Damon. I just..hope you two can work it out," Elena

said. I nodded in agreement.

"I hope so, too," Damon said with true sincerity in his voice.

Elena and Damon had left me to myself in the room and after I'd looked around for a few moments, I made my way outside fo some fresh air. As I reached the bottom of the

steps leading to the lawn, I saw Vicki walking towards me.

"Hey Vi-"

"You're clearly the better option for him!" She said, bitterly, whilst pushing her glass into my hand, then walked into the house past me. I turned to see Carol and Tyler looking

at me. Tyler looked vaguely upset but Carol just looked smug. I made my way down the side of the lawn, away from the heading I was going to in where Carol and Tyler

was no doubt still stood. I hugged my arms around myself as it had gone slightly chilly since I'd arrived earlier on.

"Sorry about that just," I heard Tyler's familiar voice behind me. I turned to see him stood there, looking embarrassed. I smiled softly.

"It's okay...what actually happened?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Mom hates her. Doesn't think she's good enough for me and I sort of let her opinion matter all night so I've kept her out of the actual party like a total jerk," He explained,

hanging his head. I sighed.

"You're not a jerk for wanting to please your Mom, Ty...you're just a bit of a douchebag for how went about it tonight," I replied. I shivered slightly and the next moment Tyler

had shrugged out of his suit jacket and had wrapped it around my shoulders.

"It's been a while since I've done this," He said with a teasing smile on his face. I smiled and let him put his arm around my shoulders. "So, can I offer you a dance, Miss Gilbert?"

He asked a few moments later as we began walking back to the mansion.

"Ooh...it would be an honor Mr Lockwood," I said, causing him to chuckle. As we entered the dancing, his jacket still around my shoulders, I caught the grin Carol and Charles

were sharing between each other in our direction and the looks I was receiving from Bonnie and various others. I liked the feeling of dancing with Tyler. I was familiar and

comfortable and that was the exact moment that I realised that I still did have feelings for him. Ah, hell.

"So Elena and Bonnie have gone home, along with Caroline..." I said as I sat down on the sofa next to Tyler.

"You could stay or I can drive you?" Tyler offered in reply.

"I'm not sure Carol or Charles is going to like it if I stay here," I said. Tyler raised his eyebrows. "Okay...I'm not sure if I'm going to like that," I amended. He nodded. "Tyler, you

made my night that was meh a whole lot better so thank you...but my feelings are still all over the place and I'm still grieving," I finished.

"What are you saying, Emmie?" He asked, then he paused. "Are you saying you could...have feeligns for me still?" He asked. I looked to the floor. Suddenly his hand lifted

my chin up gently, forcing me to meet his eyes. "Mie?" He asked softly, using his special nickname for me. I nodded slowly. He nodded too and kissed my cheek. "Ditto," He

said. I smiled, then watched as he got up and held out his hands for me to take. I took them and let him pull me up, then pick up my purse for me. "Come on, let's get you home

before Elena or your Aunt Jenna start worrying,"

We made our way out into the hallway and saw Logan Fell, Liz Forbes and Charles and Carol all coming from the dining room. They looked vaguely surprised to see us.

"Emmie, honey...I had no idea you were still here," Carol said.

"Sorry Carol...me and Tyler were just chatting and we didn't realise it was so late," I replied apologetically.

"No worries Ems...You staying the night or...?" Charles asked. Me and Tyler looked at each other before I shook my head.

"No, I'm going to drive her home, Dad," Tyler said.

"It was a great party, Carol," I said as I hugged and kissed all of them.

"Oh, thank you honey," Carol said with a smile. "Hopefully, I'll get to uh, see you around here more often now maybe?" She sounded hopeful.

"Yeah, maybe," I replied with a smile.

"You be careful getting her home, Tyler," Liz warned. Tyler saluted and we left them to it.

"Wow, they're hopeful," Tyler joked as we got into the car. I chuckled.

We fell into a comfortable silence and when we reached my house, I got out with Tyler and he walked me to my door. As I opened the door, I saw Jenna and Elena talking in the

living room. They looked up as they heard the door open and looked surprised to see me with Tyler. I ignore them and turned back to Tyler, handing him his jacket back.

"Thanks, again for making my night better and the lift home," I said. He nodded, then leaned down, kissed my cheek again.

"Goodnight Mie," He said then walked back to his car. I shut the door and leaned against it breifly.

"Ice cream?" Jenna said, holding up the bowl. I nodded and went to join her and Elena on the couch.


	5. Chapter 5- You're Undead To Me

Episode 5: You're Undead to Me.

The sight of Vicki Donovan coming into my bedroom in the morning woke me up immediately.

"Er...hi," I said, sitting up. Vicki smiled sheepishly at me.

"Hi, Emmie. Can I borrow some clothes?" She asked.I smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, carry on. Just try not to let a Elena see you. I know everything and may not care...she doesn't know a thing and probably will care," I answered. Vicki nodded and went to my wardrobe as I got up as well and headed towards the bedroom door that was still ajar. "By the way, you can use our bathroom if you want. Saves you from an awkward conversation with Jenna," I added before I left and went downstairs to grab my usual morning coffee. Jenna was up and reading the paper. I smiled at her.

"Why are you not dressed yet?" Jenna asked me, knowing it was rare I came downstairs without getting dressed first.

"I'm..uh..."I paused, wondering if Jenna knew about the Vicki situation.

"Let me guess...you're letting Vicki use your bathroom?" Jenna guessed. I nodded. "I hope Elena dosent walk in on her then,"

"I hope Elena just sleeps for about twenty minutes more," I said as I took the barstool next to her.

Less than five minutes later, Elena appeared looking confused.

"Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" She asked us. We both nodded.

"It's not like she sneaked past me into the bathroom is it?" I asked her in reply.

"And you have no objection?" Elena asked Jenna.

"He could be craftier about it...at least make and effort to sneak her in and out." She paused. "Oh and just so you both know...I won't be home for dinner,"

"Oh, so you're actually going to do it." Elena started.

"You're going to go out with Logan," I sang.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes. And have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked in reply to Elena. This is what I loved about her and made her the cool Aunt. She didn't care who we dated, she just loved to gossip with us about them.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago...'hi um, Elena, I, um, have something I have to do...I'll, uh, explain in a few days', Elena replied, imitating Stefan's voice badly.

"Haven't you called him?" I questioned.

"Nope, not going to either," She replied stubbornly.

"And you're okay with everything?" Jenna questioned.

"No im not okay with any of it. But I'm gonna cry about it either. You knowi was going to write in my journal this morning and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not going to be one of these pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy," Elena ranted. Me and Jenna looked at each other.

"Okay then," We both said simultaneously.

"I'll be fine," Elena said with finality. Me and Jenna both nodded to show her we understood. I raised my eyebrows and turned back to my cup of coffee.

"So have you heard from Tyler?" Jenna asked, steering the conversation around to me. Elena looked at me curiously. I shrugged.

"We've texted a few times, have a few conversations here and there...I don't know, it's awkward." I said. I got up. "I'm going to go get dressed. I'll meet you at school, Lena, I'm meeting Caroline before," I added as I walked out of the kitchen. I went into my bedroom, hearing giggling coming from Jeremy's room, making me roll my eyes. I shut the door behind me and headed straight to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

"I remember the party. Damon came up behind me, and he was kissing my neck...or butting my neck. I passed out. It's like there's holes in my memory lately. It's just weird," Caroline paused as she told me what happened on the night of the Founder's Party. "Maybe I let him bite me," She said uncertainly.

"Why would you do that?" Bonnie exclaimed, a judgemental tone to her voice. I tutted at her, giving her a warning look.

"Can we just not talk about it, okay? Don't want to talk about Damon. I don't want to talk about any of it. I just want to go back to normal." She stopped as she glanced over at Bonnie. "What are you doing with that candle?" She asked. I looked over too to see Bonnie holding the candle in a prayer action. I frowned in confusion.

"Um...nothing," Bonnie said quickly, putting the candle down on the nightstand beside Caroline's bed. "What's that?" She asked as she caught sing of something by the window. I looked over to see it was a yellowish gold necklace hanging up.

"Damon gave it to me. Or he was going to give it to me. All I know is, it's mine now," Caroline explained.

"It's ugly," I commented with distaste as I took it off of her to have a closer look.

"Well get your grubby hands off of it then," Caroline replied, taking it off of me. I smiled, glad some of her old self was coming back. "And tell us why you look stressed," She added. I looked up surprised.

"I'm fine," I said. Both of them gave me unbelieving looks. "I am!" I protested.

"No you're not. We know you, Ems. What is it?" Bonnie asked, sitting up. I sighed.

"I think I have feelings for Tyler still and at the Founder's Party we had a moment where we both confessed it to each other," I admitted slowly. Caroline gasped.

"Oh my god! I knew it!" She exclaimed. She shared a look with Bonnie. "Well I knew it about Tyler, I wasn't sure about you," She said honestly. "So what are you going to do?" I shrugged.

"I don't know yet. I mean, I'm still grieving. I don't want to lead him on, get back in a relationship for the second time and then back out when it gets too much again...it really isn't fair on him," I said. Bonnie nodded in understanding, whilst Caroline just smiled comfortingly.

An hour later we were stood outside my locker this time with Elena there too.

"The sexy suds car was is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean it's a fund raiser for god's sake," She told us before moving off to lecture someone else.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened," Elena said in surprise.

"She's in denial," Bonnie said as I nodded in agreement.

"Hey," I jumped as I heard Stefan's voice behind us. We turned to face him but his eyes were fixed on Elena.

"Hey...um...me and Bonnie have to be somewhere right now. Gotta go," I said hurriedly as I grabbed my friend's wrist and moved her down the hall. I looked back to see Elena and Stefan talking.

'Subtle, Emmie," Bonnie said. I rolled my eyes. I saw Tyler stood with a few of his teammates and paused hesitantly. He looked up at that moment and smiled at me. I smiled back and then his said something to his teammates and moved towards me, away from them. "I'll be in English," Bonnie said before disappearing, amusement in her voice. I watched her walk away then looked back to Tyler who was now in front of me.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey," He replied, awkwardness his only expression on his face. He looked hesitant.

"Spit it out, Ty," I said with a smile on my face.

"Would you like to meet me at the Grill? After school? Tonight?" He asked.

"Like a date? Or hanging out as friends?" I asked.

"Anything you want," He replied, running his neck.

"Of course I would," I answered with a smile. At that moment the bell rung. "Walk me to English?" I asked him. He nodded and put his arm around my shoulder as we moved down the corridor.

I was just putting on my heels in the living room when I saw Jeremy and Stefan coming in the front door.

"What are you two doing?" I asked, curiously. I knew Elena had met Stefan earlier and it hadn't gone well since she was currently up in her room, pouring her feelings into her diary.

"Trying to win your sister back," Stefan said. I raised my eyebrows and nodded.

"Where are you going?" Jeremy asked.

"Meeting Tyler at the Grill," I replied. He looked taken aback. "Don't say a word,Jeremy Gilbert. No it's not a date...of sorts." I added warningly. "Oh and Jenna's on a date with Logan Fell so it'll just be you, Elena and Stefan here until later." I said, grabbing my jacket. "Have fun!" I sang as I left the house.

"So Jenna's here?" I asked Tyler. He pointed towards the bar and I saw her sat with Logan. "Ah," I murmured then smiled. "She's going to torture him," I said. Tyler chuckled.

"So you want to play pool?" He asked. "We haven't played in ages!" He exclaimed. I tilted my head to the side, a small smile starting.

"Come on then," I said, making my way over to where the pool table was, still grinning.

"How are things?" Tyler asked when we started playing.

"Okay...I mean. I'm still grieving. I miss them all the time," I admitted honestly. I sighed. "But I'm guessing I always will in a way..." Tyler nodded with sympathy on his face. "How is things with your Dad?" I then asked. Tyler's dad could be overbearing a lot of the times, especially with Tyler. Tyler shrugged.

"He's still an ass most of the time," He replied casually. I nodded.

"Well, my couch is open for you for a night if he's gets too much again," I said with a smile.

"And you think your brother would like that?" Tyler asked. I shrugged.

"Not his problem. You have been my friend since birth Ty...just because you and him have this thing about Vicki Donovan doesn't mean you can't be my friend still. Jeremy has to see that," I said

"Ooh, Gilbert's getting her fire back!" Tyler teased with a grin. I grinned back to him.

"Gilbert's getting her back," I confirmed.

I walked into Elena's bedroom after knocking on the door to make sure Stefan wasn't in there with her.

"So, how was date night?" I asked her.

"I learned a lot about him. Which was good. He opened up to me...even about Katherine," Elena replied as I sat down on her bed.

"That's a sign then," I said. Elena sat up.

"By the way...I didn't get chance to tell you before now but Damon's gone. Left town. For good," She said. I raised my eyebrows in slight shock. I nodded slowly.

"That's uh, good," I said. Elena nodded. She looked down at the duvet and back up to me.

"At the Founder's Party when me and Damon were talking and you came in, he apologised to you too. What for?" Elena asked. I sighed and took a deep breath.

"Erm...okay, honestly." I paused. "Night of the football game when Mr Tanner died...well, when I went to the changing rooms, Damon was there. We talked and then Damon kissed me," I admitted. Elena's eyebrows shot up and she opened her mouth in surprise. "I kissed back for two seconds and then pulled away, Elena," I protested.

"I believe you...He uh, went to kiss me too the night of the game..." She also admitted. My mouth opened in surprise too. So Damon had tried to kiss Elena and kissed me the same night? Wow.

"Huh. What a player," I said with a small bitter laugh. Elena nodded. "Oh well. He's left town. Gone. Hopefully for good which means you and I can focus on other things and not the actions of an asshole," I continued getting up and going to the door of her bedroom. "Oh and remember you're on stand duty tomorrow at the car wash tomorrow." I added before leaving the room to go and get ready for bed.

"You know, you should show off your body more," Caroline complimented me as I stood next to her in my bikini top and shorts. Her eye raked over my body once more. "You have a really great body." She added. I blushed slightly.

"Thanks Care," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed still. We began walking over to the stand where Elena was sat by herself.

"Okay,no friend discounts. No freebies. No pay ya laters. We are not running a charity here. No we are not," Caroline instructed her as she passed the tin for the money over to Elena with some change in already.

"No we are not," Elena agreed with a small smile to me. At that moment Stefan came over to us.

"Hey," He said, mainly to me and Elena, but he included Caroline too.

"Hey," Elena and I replied simultaneously.

"This is an event called sexy suds, you know," Caroline said sternly, her eyebrows raised and her eyes aimed at Elena and Stefan's clothes. She tutted and turned away, walking over to boss Tiki around from the looks of it. "You should take a look at Emms!" She called behind her. I saw Stefan and Elena look over me and I crossed my arms.

"Did we just get scolded?" Stefan asked.

"And judged, yeah," Elena added in reply.

"Wow," Stefan murmured.

"Don't mind Caroline. She gets like this when she's organising things...I should know, I'm usually co-coordinator. Anyway, I'm going to go and do my part," I told them with a smile before making my way over to Matt and Bonnie. "Care's getting stressed. Again," I warned them as I grabbed a sponge from their bucket and began to scrub the top of the car next to Bonnie.

"When doesn't she?" Bonnie replied with a giggle. "Uh-uh. None of that tortured pining stuff,' She added to Matt as she looked across at him. I looked across to him as well, seeing he was watching Elena and Stefan. I sighed and paused scrubbing.

"I'm just observing," Matt replied back.

"Mmmm," I said, then turned to Tiki as another car pulled in next to us. "Tiki, this one is yours," I told her.

"Why do I always get the homely ones? Just to be clear, your car is a . I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S," Tiki said to the guy whose car it was. I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned at her, slightly pissed at her attitude.

"You don't have to be rude," Bonnie said before I could say something.

"Rude is ugly-ing up the road with that junk," Tiki retorted.

"Tiki, just clean the damn car and quit complaining," I snapped. Tiki sighed and turned to the car. I turned back around. to Matt who smirked at me. I shook my head in exasperation. Suddenly there was a shriek from Tiki and I turned back to see the hose hitting her full force in the face. I giggled slightly as Matt went over to help her. I looked over to Bonnie to get her reaction, but saw she looked slightly shocked. I looked back to Tiki and back to the water, then to Bonnie before shaking my hair over my shoulders and getting back to washing the car in front of me.

"That'll be twenty dollars." Elena said an elderly looking man as we both sat at the pay stand. Well, Elena sat whilst I stood next to her, bored. Caroline had gone walk about after she'd said she was going to find some more towels and cleaning cloths so I was now in charge. "I saw you last night. You were talking to a friend of mine. At the grill?" I heard Elena say to the man and I focussed on the conversation taking place in front of me.

"Well, I- I thought it was somebody I knew," The man replied hesitantly. I looked between Elena and the man, confused out of my mind.

"Stefan Salvatore," Elena stated more than asked. I frowned. Where was she going with this?

"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me," The man said with a chuckle.

"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" Elena persisted. I frowned at her. Why was she so on edge? I thought as I took in my twin's body language. She was tense, so definitely on edge.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore Boarding House," The man answered calmly.

"Oh," Elena said.

"Stefan was passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack," The man continued.

"The attack?" I couldn't help but question out loud, straightening up. The man looked to me, focussing on my face.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods," The old man told me. I felt an uneasy prickling in my back and neck. An animal attack?

"His uncle? Zach?" Elena questioned.

"Mmmmm, Joseph," I frowned once more. I didn't know of a Joseph Salvatore. I looked to Elena to see her looking straight at me, a frown on her features too.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I don't think my sister and I are familiar with the story," I apologised. The man looked taken aback at us.

"Oh, but how could you? I mean this happened years ago," He replied. Tiki came up to us, her hand going to the nan's arm in a comforting action.

"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home, okay?" She said to him. The man nodded and began to move away.

"He wasn't bugging you, was he? He's a little alzy-heimer," Tiki said to us. Elena got up hurriedly.

"No he was sweet," She murmured before moving off.

"Tiki, can you take over for a moment?" I asked before following Elena.

"Are you sure that the man that you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked Tiki's grandfather.

"Yes I remember his ring and his brother-"

"Damon?" Elena asked hurriedly.

"Yeah, Stefan and Damon Salvatore," The man confirmed.

"When was this?" I asked, looking between my sister and the man worriedly. I was clearing missing something out here.

"It was early June, Nineteen fifty three. Yeah, June nineteen fifty three," The man said then walked away with a smile to us.

"Elena, what's going on?" I asked my sister, though I sort of got the picture. There had been a Damon and Stefan Salvatore around in 1953 and apparently the Stefan then was identical to the Stefan now.

"I don't know...Emmie, I really don't," Elena replied. "I'll be back in a moment," She added, moving away. I followed her movements and saw Stefan. Ah.

A few minutes later she came back over.

"We need to look at old newspaper cuttings or articles," She stated, then began moving to where Jenna and Logan were stood.

'Now?" I asked.

"Now," She confirmed. I nodded and sent a quick text to Tiki, letting her know that she was now in charge, then threw on my t shirt and followed her over.

"Your car was done an hour ago," She said to Jenna.

"You're saying that out loud why?" Jenna questioned with a grin.

"Hi...Elena and Emmie, right? I think I met you both once when you were nine," Logan said with a smile.

"Your emotional maturity level when we were together," Jenna digged, causing me to smirk.

"Is he enough in your good graces that I can ask for a favour?" Elena asked, still sounding hurried.

"If I do her a favour, will I get back in your good graces?" Logan asked Jenna as well.

"Uh, a very reluctant maybe to both," Jenna replied, sounding reluctant.

"Done. One condition, Dinner, tonight, your house," Logan said to her, smiling with a smiling charming.

"Fine. But you're eating leftovers," Jenna said to him.

"Ooh," Logan said to her in reply. Then he turned to Elena. "What do you need?" He asked her.

"Do you have access to old news stories... Say the fifties?" She replied. Logan nodded.

"Yeah, at the station. Between the archives and the internet, we pretty much have everything," He answered.

"Emmie and I have this report that's way past due. It'd be a life saver," Elena said, a slight pleading look on her face that was a total facade. I knew what she was up to and my heart was telling me it was the right thing to do, my head was telling me that it was a completely idiotic idea and the consequences would be awful. I swallowed my fears and smiled at Jenna and Logan in an agreeing way to Elena's lie.

"Heading there now. Let's go," Logan said.

"If anyone asks where we went, you have no idea. I don't want Caroline to know I ditched," I told Jenna as I passed her, following Logan and Elena. Jenna nodded, looking amused.

Once we were at the news station and in one of the researching offices, Logan explained everything to us.

"We digitised all our archives last year. You can pull all the remote footage right up on screen. What is it exactly you're looking for?" He finished in a question.

"An incident from nineteen fifty three..." Elena trailed off.

"If it even happened," I finished. She sent me a glance. "At the Salvatore Boarding House," I added after clearing my throat. Logan's phone went off.

"Sorry one second," He said to us, then turned away to answer it. "Yeah?...Fire?...all right, be right there," He turned back to us. "I gotta go. You believe there's actual news to cover in this town?" He said jokingly. We smiled. "All right, use keywords to search the database. It's pretty easy to navigate and Brady down in tech will help you out with anything you need," He instructed. We both nodded. "All right? Oh, hey. Could you put in a good word with Jenna for me?" He asked as he paused by the door to the office.

"You got it," I said with a small amused grin.

"All right, good luck," Logan said before disappearing. I turned back to Elena and the computer screen in front of me. I leaned over to the screen slightly, reading the words in front of me. Elena typed in some key words then clicked on a link to some footage.

"This is Franklin Fell reporting to you from the Salvatore Boarding House, where a brutal animal attack has ended in tragedy...Okay, they're bringing out the bodies. See if you can get closer... Is that the nephew?" As the camera zoomed in, I caught a familiar face and I froze as Elena froze the screen. There was Stefan, in a newspaper footage from 1953. That wasn't possible. Was it?

"What is he, Elena?" I asked quietly. She just shook her head in response.

As Elena wrote in her journal, my mind turned over and over what had happened since the first day of school, when we'd met Stefan Salvatore. The bodies drained of blood, Vicki attacked, Damon...Caroline's bite marks on her neck and back...I rubbed my forehead and saw Elena look up at me. I sighed. Finally the memory of Matt saying Vicki had told him it was a vampire that had attacked her struck me. I got up and grabbed my jacket from Elena's bed.

"Come on," I said to her.

"What?" She asked, sounding confused.

"We have to know, Elena. Who they are or what they are. We have to be sure." I said as I threw her her jacket and she got up, journal forgotten on window seat. Please let us be wrong or dreaming I thought silently as we made our way to Elena's car.


End file.
